Music and Emotions

Abstract

Daniela Willimek, who was born in 1962, studied music in Karlsruhe and Vienna with a major in piano performance. She completed her degree with honors. She has received scholarships from the German National Academic Foundation, the Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation of Bayreuth and the Brahms Society of Baden-Baden. Winner of prizes and awards in national and international competition. Initiator of a series of CDs entitled Faszination Frauenmusik featuring piano music by female composers. Lecturer at the Karlsruhe University of Music. Bernd Willimek, born in 1954, studied math and physics at the University of Karlsruhe before studying music at the Karlsruhe University of Music, where he completed a graduate degree in music theory and composition under Eugen Werner Velte. Freelance work as a music theory expert and composer. Author of the Theory of Musical Equilibration. In conjunction with his wife, Daniela Willimek, he designed and conducted international study on the emotional perception of musical harmonies. 1. 1.5 For psychologists: how do the musical effects of the leading note develop? 7 1.2 The emotional character of musical harmonies 8 1.2.1 The character of tonic in major chords 8 1.2.2 Why do minor chords sound sad? 9 1.2.3 The secondary dominant chord as an expression of being emotionally moved 10 1.2.4 Why is it that major chords sometimes sound as sad as minor chords? 11 1.2.5 The dominant chord in major brings motion into music 12 1.2.6 The major subdominant expresses tranquility 13 1.2.7 Natural minor goes with tension, courage and adventure 14 1.2.8 The subdominant with a major seventh conveys wistfulness 15 1.2.9 The seventh chord was part of the countercultural revolution 16 1.2.10 The added sixth in a major chord as an expression of warmth and security 17 1.2.11 The added sixth in a minor chord represents heartbreak and loneliness 18 1.2.12 The Neapolitan sixth chord as a symbol of death 18 1.2.13 Fright and despair in the diminished seventh chord 20 1.2.14 Astonishment and amazement in an augmented chord 21 IV 1.2.15 Floating weightlessly: the whole-tone scale 22 1.2.16 The minor sixth is full of fear 22 1.2.17 An overview of the emotional nature of harmonies 24 2 Empirical observations: the tests 25 2.1 The goal, designing the tests, and early models 26 2.1.1 Goal of the research 26 2.1.2 Inspiration for the research 26 2.1.3 The impetus and the tests' theoretical foundation 26 2.1.4 Challenges in designing the tests …